Oakland Raiders to play 2019 season in San Francisco Giants’ Oracle Park
The Oakland Raiders have finally selected their new home for the 2019 NFL season: sharing Oracle Park with MLB’s San Francisco Giants.
Believe it or not, the Oakland Raiders‘ stadium situation has finally been resolved. After much deliberation and speculation, the Raiders have decided to spend the 2019 NFL season playing at Oracle Park, home of MLB’s San Francisco Giants.
That is, according to NBC Bay Area’s Raj Mathai:
This comes after a dramatic and ugly divorce from Oakland Coliseum, the Raiders’ home of the last 24 years. The team was slated to spend one more year in its long-time home before making the move to Las Vegas in 2020, but tensions between the city of Oakland and ownership were too much to bear.
It all came to a head in December, when the city filed an antitrust lawsuit against the Raiders. The move forced the team’s hand, essentially making any sort of short-term pact impossible.
Other options, including playing at UNLV and taking up shelter in San Diego or San Antonio, were considered. Ultimately, it appears the Raiders preferred to stay close to their old home, maximizing the amount of opportunities to tap into their old fanbase before leaving all of their Oakland faithful in the dust in 2020.
It does seem a bit odd that owner Mark Davis opted to share a stadium with another baseball team, as the Raiders did for years with the Oakland Athletics. However, seeing as the deal is only for one year, it may have been better than packing up and moving to San Diego or San Antonio for such a short span of time.
With the stadium situation now figured out, the Raiders can turn their attention to the 2019 campaign. Jon Gruden figures to do plenty more tinkering with the roster in the coming months, with 2019 NFL free agency and the 2019 NFL Draft circled in bright red on the head coach’s calendar.
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Put simply, it’s going to be an interesting year if you follow the Oakland Raiders. Or should we now call them the San Francisco Raiders? Maybe the Bay Area Raiders? I’m sure Oakland locals wouldn’t mind Traiders at this point.